Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who uses symbols or symbolism.
  • noun One who interprets or represents conditions or truths by the use of symbols or symbolism.
  • noun Any of a group of chiefly French writers and artists of the late 1800s who rejected realism and used symbols to evoke ideas and emotions.
  • adjective Of or relating to symbolism.
  • adjective Of or relating to the Symbolists.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who employs symbols; one who practises symbolism.
  • noun Specifically One of a group of French poets of which Verlaine was the most conspieuous member.
  • Of or pertaining to the Symbolists; characterized by symbolism.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who employs symbols.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective art, literature Of or pertaining to the Symbolist movement in late 19th-century and early 20th-century European arts and literature
  • noun One who employs symbols.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone skilled in the interpretation or representation of symbols
  • noun a member of an artistic movement that expressed ideas indirectly via symbols

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French symboliste, coined by poet Paul Verlaine in 1885.

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